#stpm2015

Ladies and gentlemen, our newsletter is back! Seeing the SPM 2015 is looming on the horizon, some study tips are in order! But wait, the exam is less than a week away, surely this is too late to try anything new? Well this guy below disagrees.

*image credits to pinterest.com

The author has compiled some last-minute, nick-of-time tips to even the odds! Well, okay, so they’re not really “last-minute“ per se, but following these tips will ensure we bring our best game to the exam. Let’s have a look:

1) Sleep well Yes, call it what you want; old-school, classic, I-already-know-it, but it can’t be stressed enough: missing even an hour of sleep slows down our reaction speed, plus our memory retention suffers. What does this translate to exam? Well, those 60 MCQs that we used to finish under 50 minutes can now take 80 minutes; those equations we memorized before? Well we can’t seemed to remember it as well now. The worst part of sleep deprivation is we won’t even feel like we underperformed when we actually did. So, get at least 9 hours of sleep; if you haven’t already, start it now! These tips to improve our sleep quality might be helpful, too.

*image credits to alquranclasses.com

2) Stay hydrated Staying hydrated is especially important now with the haze affecting everyone around. If you haven’t already, invest in a face mask of N95 grade or better. Don’t just use the normal face mask because it doesn’t filter out all the finer airborne particles. Make sure you bring extra water with you during exam time, and stay indoor as much as possible. If all tests are over for the day, go straight home! If you feel your throats are getting sore right now, try these home remedies. You do not want to fall sick this close to the exam.

3) Study in chunks Most of us have probably heard of the optimal sleep cycle in the duration of 90 minutes that was coined the Circadian Rhythm; what some of us may not know is that scientists have found we also have an optimal attention period of 90 minutes during the day, and this was incorporated along with Circadian Rhythm into the new term: the Ultradian Rhythm. What this means for study is that: you should prepare your environment and schedule to study in chunks or blocks of 90 minutes straight without interruption, then give yourself a rest-period of 20~30 minutes before continuing with study. Stretch yourself in the mean time, as even light exercise will improve blood flow to your brain and helps you think clearer, not to mention releasing hormones that helps with relieving stress, something all students facing an important exam will have ample of.

*image credits to lifehack.org

4) Do mock exams Lots of them. One of the best and most effective ways for the author to deal with exams has been to conduct mock exams that are as similar to the real thing as possible. This doesn’t just mean the questions asked, but also the timing of the exam and the environment of the exam centre. If the first exam of the day start early at around 8am, and you expect heavy traffic to reach the exam site so you need to wake up on 6am, schedule a day before the actual exam and do a mock test, where you wake up on 6am, eat and prepare yourself, and starts the test on 8am. If there’s another exam in the evening starting at 3pm, use the time in between to estimate what you will do during the real test, where to spend the time, how much time to spend on studying that next test, what to eat in between the time so you won’t get hungry but also not too full so as to avoid it affecting the test, so on and so forth. And of course, start the next mock test at 3pm. This allows us to envision possible issues that may pop up (sleepy during the 3pm test means you probably need to take a nap during the gap), and get used to the whole process so we won’t be as nervous during the real exam.

5) Start with the easy answers I’m sure most people do this, but from time to time I still heard news of students unable to answer all questions on time due to mismanagement of time. Starting with the easy answers will give you a boost of confidence right at the start of the test. Besides, filling up all the easy answers plus a few tough ones will probably lands you a higher score than solving all the tough ones but only managing some of the easy ones. Yes, score is not everything, but knowing the answers yet getting a lower score due to blank sheets is going to leave you with a crushing feeling, crushing regret. Leave no regrets.

*image credits to medexec.org

In the end, the most important thing we carry away from our school life may not be the scores at all. It could be the long-lasting friendship, the social skills, the connection, etc. But if there’s nothing else that you took with you, take this: the skills to learn. Give a man a fish, he’ll be full for a day; teach him to fish, and he won’t starve for the rest of his life.